The UK government has awarded a £1.7 million contract to Ensilicated Technologies Ltd (EnsiliTech), a University of Bath spinout company dedicated to
making vaccines safer, to develop the world's first thermally stable mRNA vaccine.
mRNA vaccines have a huge potential to prevent infectious diseases and a range of previously unpreventable conditions, but currently, these vaccines require
ultracold storage, needing to be kept at -70 or even -80 °C.
The company's ensilication technology allows vaccines and other biological materials to be transported and stored without the use of refrigeration.
Dr Asel Sartbaeva, co-founder and CEO at EnsiliTech, believes that the technology could save tens of thousands of lives every year.
She commented: "We're so proud to have won this important government grant."
Covid-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna that use mRNA technology provide the biggest boost to antibody levels when given 10-12 weeks after the second dose, a new study has found.
The "COV-Boost" study was cited by UK officials when they announced that Pfizer and Moderna were preferred for use in the country's booster campaign, but the data has only been made publicly available now.
The study found that six out of the seven boosters examined enhanced immunity after initial vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine, while all seven increased immunity when given after two doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine.
"A third dose will be effective for many of the vaccines we've tested and in many different combinations," Professor Saul Faust, an immunologist at the University of Southampton and the trial's lead, told the media.
Scientists Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman from Hungary and the United States respectively won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for
discoveries enabling the development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, the award-giving body said on Monday.
The prize, among the most prestigious in the scientific world, is selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden's Karolinska Institute medical university and also
comes with 11 million Swedish crowns (about £823,500).
"The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications
that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19," the body said.
Kariko was senior vice president and head of RNA protein replacement at BioNTech until 2022 and has since acted as an adviser to the company. She is also a professor
at the University of Szeged in Hungary and adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine.
Weissman is professor in vaccine research at the Perelman School.
French drugmaker Sanofi said on Monday (June 13) an upgraded version of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate it is developing with GSK showed potential in two
trials to protect against the virus's main variants of concern, including the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 strains, when used as a booster shot.
While the two companies' first experimental Covid shot is undergoing review by the European Medicines Agency, Sanofi and GSK have continued work on a vaccine that
is moulded on the now-supplanted Beta variant, hoping still that it will confer broad protection against future viral mutations.
Sanofi said this new vaccine candidate was shown to significantly boost antibody levels against a number of variants of concern, when given to trial participants
who had an initial course of mRNA vaccines, a type made by BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna.
In a separate trial conducted by a French hospitals network, Sanofi's Beta-adapted booster shot triggered a higher immune response than Sanofi's first-generation
shot or Pfizer-BioNTech's established vaccine in previously vaccinated volunteers.
US biotech firm Moderna will build a new research and manufacturing centre in Britain to develop vaccines against new Covid-19 variants, other respiratory
illnesses and help improve readiness for any future pandemics.
The facility is expected to start producing shots in 2025 and Britain has made a commitment to buy Moderna's vaccines for the next decade under the agreement.
Moderna's Covid-19 vaccines, which use messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, were among those deployed in Britain to tackle the crisis and enable prime minister Boris
Johnson to reopen the economy from stringent lockdowns.
Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel said the priority was to develop a shot combining refreshed boosters against Covid, flu and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).
"By building a plant in the UK, we are also providing the UK Government - which has a long term partnership with us, with this agreement - with the ability to be
pandemic ready," Bancel said on Wednesday.
Britain has approved a new coronavirus vaccine by the Austrian-French drugmaker Valneva.
"An approval has been granted after the Valneva Covid-19 vaccine was found to meet the required safety, quality and effectiveness standards," the Medicines and
Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said in a statement on Thursday (April 14), adding: "It is also the first, whole-virus inactivated Covid-19 vaccine to gain
regulatory approval in the UK."
In vaccines such as Valneva's VLA2001, the virus is grown in a lab and then made completely inactive so that it cannot infect cells or replicate in the body but can still trigger an immune response. It is seen by some as having the potential to win over people wary of some which use new mRNA technology.
Valneva CEO Thomas Lingelbach said that "this authorisation could pave the way for the availability of an alternative vaccine solution for the UK population."
Moderna has joined one of the UK's leading pharmaceutical industry body, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) to expand its footprint and
investment in the UK.
The biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines will strengthen its footprint with the new state-of-the-art vaccine research,
development and manufacturing facility in the UK. It will create valuable new jobs and build on the strength of the UK's life sciences ecosystem.
The company is best known for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic and are now developing a range of mRNA-based vaccines for a number of conditions.
The ABPI represents companies of all sizes who invest in discovering the medicines of the future, including some of the world's largest, most innovative, and most
successful pharmaceutical firms.
Darius Hughes, UK General Manager, Moderna, said: "We are delighted to join the ABPI - this alliance is an important part of our long-term commitment to the UK and
supports the wider significant investments in manufacturing, research and development we are making in this country.
Clinical trials for BioNTech's cancer vaccines should start this year in Britain, marking an important step towards their possible sale on the open market,
the German company's top executive Ugur Sahin told magazine Der Spiegel.
BioNTech, known for its COVID vaccine with U.S. partner Pfizer, is currently deciding which types of cancer it wants to test its personalized cancer immunotherapies
on and the locations where it will conduct the trials, Sahin said.
The company wants these therapies, which are based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology similar to the one that underpins its COVID-19 vaccine, to soon become a regular
treatment for cancer patients.
"We believe that this should be possible for large amounts of patients before 2030," Sahin said.